Paper Rating Program for KODAK PROSPER Presses Recognizes Eight Substrates from Glatfelter Paper
 
Glatfelter Paper extends portfolio of options for users of KODAK Inkjet Solutions
 
Kodak has been working for many years with Glatfelter, a global manufacturer of specialty papers and fiber-based engineered materials, to supply a wide range of papers for KODAK VERSAMARK Printing Systems. As a next step in this collaborative effort, Glatfelter has announced eight new substrates in its Pixelle product line optimized specifically for KODAK PROSPER Presses, and each substrate has been rated within Kodak's new Paper Rating Program.

In the current market, users are concerned about the limited availability of reliable inkjet papers with no standards for comparison. With partners such as Glatfelter unveiling eight rated papers at once, PROSPER Press users can rest assured that they will have a wide variety of papers from which to choose, and can depend on those papers for consistent performance.

The GLATFELTER Papers recognized in the Paper Rating Program include:

• TRANSFORM Laser MOCR-1 diamond
• PIXELLE CAD Bond-1 diamond
• PIXELLE Antique Natural-3 diamond
• PIXELLE Book-3 diamond
• PIXELLE Restorecote P-3 diamond
• PIXELLE Superior Duo Matte-3 diamond
• Engineering Bond P-3 diamond
• PIXELLE Bond P-3 diamond

Glatfelter has been a leading producer of production inkjet papers for the North American market for more than five years and offers one of the broadest ranges of inkjet papers-including uncoated, treated and coated papers. The company has been making paper for almost 150 years and now, with its growing inkjet product line, serves transactional, direct mail, and commercial book printers needing reliable, high-quality inkjet paper solutions.

"The advantage of this program is that buyers can quickly identify a quality and price level for papers that suit their needs and know that the paper will perform as expected," said Denny Betz, Business Development Manager for Glatfelter's Pixelle inkjet papers. "There is still a lot of confusion in the market about how different inkjet papers perform, but Kodak is helping to quantify that performance with this program. The testing results give us the opportunity to evaluate performance and modify our papers as needed."

Kodak developed its Paper Rating Program to help printers and publishers make more informed decisions about the right combination of quality and price when evaluating substrates for each of their print jobs. The Paper Rating Program relies on the collection and analysis of quantifiable data to determine the expected image quality characteristics of printing papers. Kodak measures image quality using a wide variety of factors and then ranks each substrate using a rating system that ranges from one to five diamonds.

Within the Paper Rating Program, there are five metrics for assessing paper surface capabilities that can quantify and characterize the image quality expectations for each paper type. The metrics are: Black Optical Density, Show Through, Line Raggedness, and for color printing, Color-to-Color Bleed and Mottle/Uniformity. Kodak tests for these metrics under standardized conditions and results are simplified into the Five-Diamond rating system. The benefit for customers is the ability to immediately know the image quality potential of a given paper, and with that information, make application-specific decisions based on economics and quality.

"Often times, two papers look the same but can have very different results based on their chemistry and physical properties, as well as the inkjet printing technologies being used," noted Don Burns, Kodak's Business Development Director for Media. "We're using our knowledge of imaging science and surface science to support our customers' business. This system makes it easier for PROSPER Press owners to choose the best substrate and achieve outstanding inkjet results."

Hundreds of papers are currently being evaluated, and paper manufacturers continue to improve surface quality and economics through what they learn. The program, which includes rigorous testing, is designed for ISO compliance and is rolling out globally throughout the year.